Orcs
Location: The Dune Sea or scattered across various lands Government: Democratic Theocracy (an elected Priest-Chief along with various nobles) or Barbaric Rule (the biggest and the strongest rule) Attitude: Devout and Stern or Arrogant and Barbaric (depending on the individual) Orcs are one of the most common races, but they are a race divided, unable to choose between civility or barbarism, with large amounts of its people torn between those two extremes. The vast majority of the peaceful orc population lives in the Dune Sea but the more dangerous, nomadic clans can be found almost anywhere. Culture and Lifestyle The biggest cultural divide between the orc clans is their adherence and interpretation of their ancient religion. Broadly speaking, there are two primary schools of thought: one following a path of peace and communion with their deity, and one following a path of violence and ritualistic worship of their deity. The orcs of the former group tend to almost exclusively live in the desert lands of the Dune Sea in their capital city, Orc Dorado. Clans and gangs who belong to the latter group tend to be more nomadic and outright hostile to others and don't have a capital city to call home. Orcs of the former group tend to be more open-minded, but are still very secular and somewhat xenophobic of other races in their territory. They are a very deeply religious group and their focus on spirituality reflects in their culture, artwork and architecture. Orc government is theocratic. The priests are the ruling body, pushing communities in the direction that God wants them to go. The priests are often arranged in a council to properly interpret God's word, but in dire times they will bow to a sufficiently virtuous and powerful "Warchief" who will be tasked with defending the community from harm. In terms of culture and art, the orcs are first and foremost spiritual. Most of their artwork and high society focuses quite specifically on religion in some shape or form, similar to most art in the Middle Ages. Orcs are a highly practical people, and try to justify their actions as beneficial to God or to others. Artists are sometimes even pressured to include religious symbolism in their art so that they have "a worthy reason" to follow their passion as opposed to working on the fields or in the mines. Orcs are also rather utilitarian. Their religion has a very "Help others, regardless of the cost to oneself" bent, and as such many orcs' idea of practicality is self-justified as helping society at large. Of course, they are also quick to use this excuse to justify inhumane acts. Torture and murder are acceptable as long as it benefits God or the orcish people. As for the more nomadic, raider-oriented orcs, roving bands of young orcs styling themselves as bandits and barbarians have taken to the northern wastes and the fringes of human territories, riding armored camels or ramshackle dwarven motorbikes and wrecking whatever they please. The elders of the more religious population publicly shun this rampant hooliganism, but any attempts to quell such behavior have met with failure. Religion Orcs are monotheistic. They often argue that the different Gods found in other religions are either different interpretations of the One True God or various demons and evil spirits. As such, they tend to butt heads with Midland's Order of Light. One cannot speak the One True God's name because he has no name. It is taboo to ever address him/her/it as anything other than "The One True God", "The Eternal", or other vague titles. It is their belief that the One True God is a part of everything, and is therefore beyond the mortal conception of names. Orcish religion is known as Occom. They tend to utilize missionaries in the hopes of converting others through peaceful means, though they often have more in common with spies and assassins than priests. They believe open warfare is sinful and goes against the words of God, while covert actions are justified in the eyes of their Lord. Their influence abroad is largely nonexistent, as most members are less concerned with the salvation of the other races. History Orc legend tells that the first orcs were a noble yet savage race who were misused and abused by the first masters of their civilization, the elves. Their history does not recall exactly how the orc race came to be, but some more strong-armed and prideful of their race says that the orcs were simply made to fight and to win, and that is exactly what the elves had them do. Meanwhile, the religion of the more peaceful desert-dwelling orcs tells that God created the orcs to endure great trials, including enslavement and exile in the desert, in order for their race to grow strong and powerful in the hot sun. Though debate rages between orcish historians, both can agree that the orcs of the modern day would not exist had the magic-wielding elves not played thier part in their history. The earliest of orcs were the muscle-bound pawns of the elves, alongside the tinkering, skilled dwarves. The orcs were used for their brawn and not their brains, keeping the dwarves in line and conquering more land for the elves, acting as the primary footsoldiers for the elven empire. On the whole, they were very happy with this, as the elves kept them sated in ways that would please their primitive minds, such as shiny gold or potent drink. Among the orcs, the attitude of "might makes right" quickly fostered into unwritten law, with the strongest (and often most thick-headed) of the orcs attaining a position of power over the others. These were the earliest warchiefs. The early orcs were, much like the dwarves, subject to breeding experiments by the elves who saw fit to only pass on the most desirable traits in the species; nameless aggression, strength, arrogance, pride and athleticism. The orcs competed with the dwarves for the favor of the elves, as it brought various perks and opportunities under their rule. This led to an intense rivalry with the dwarves that bloomed into outright hatred, a tension that has survived between the two races to the modern era. The orcs were content to bully who the elves told them to bully and live off of the privileges it brought to them. Then, the elves left for the moon and utterly abandoned the orcs and the dwarves nearly overnight. This absence of higher organization left the orcs initially confused and angry, ready to turn on each other in a scramble for power, had some particularly clever warchiefs not turned the orcs' attentions to their former slave brethren, the dwarves. Immediately the orcs rallied for war against the dwarves, with no negotiations or warning. The dwarves retaliated and a long conflict between the two races began as they vied for control over the territories the elves had left behind. The orcs dominated the dwarves in combat, but the bearded workers were clever and fought with unconventional, unexpected tactics. Both sides were relentless and determined to never give up an inch of ground to the other. This stalemate is the state in which the orcs and dwarves were discovered by the newest settlers in the land, the humans, sailing in on large ships from a different continent. The early human colonists had technology; machines and firearms, which impressed both races. The orcs were eager to get their hands on the firearms, having witnesses their destructive power. The human settlers made trade with the orcs and gave them simple firearms and taught them how to use and maintain them. The orcs thought that they had made a friend with the human race, but what they didn't know was that the humans had also sold machinery to the dwarves and were playing both sides of the conflict. Death tolls rose with the scale of technology introduced to their warfare and the orcs found themselves more taxed than before. The dwarves were meanwhile having similar experiences. This led to the human armies of the old kingdom of man stomping through their ranks when they arrived behind their initial colonists. The human armies, consisting of powerful mechanical men and much more advanced weaponry, were far too much for the orcs to match. If the dwarves and the orcs had united against the new human menace, a chance to repel them may have occurred, but their old hatred prevented them from making this happen. As such, the dwarves were forced back into the mountains and the underground while the orcs were scattered, a large group of them ending up in the Dune Sea. Here, a large number of orcs resolved to exile themselves to the desert and form a new society where the humans would not bother them. This was the first moment in history where the orcs were not either enslaved or consumed with a desire to conquer another race, which allowed them to settle down and form a more organized religion, which laid the groundwork for Occam, their modern belief system. As such, it was during this time that they developed their various rituals for worship of their monotheistic deity. They began to establish new traditions based more around spiritual enlightenment and self-fulfilment rather than mindless, nomadic barbarism. Their capital city, Orc Derado, is said to be a city of gold they discovered where the first tenants of their church were established. Other orc tribes, meanwhile, stuck to older ways of thinking and eventually formed into the roving clans of raiders and troublemakers that plague the lands until this very day. They contrast with the other orcs in that they firmly believe their deity is one of passion, violence and strength. Much animosity exists between these two groups, as neither approves of the other's lifestyle or interpretation of their religion. Due to various reasons, the orcs largely stayed out of the conflict that arose between the humans and the returned elves, led by a new queen. The isolationist orcs stayed in the Dune Sea, where few humans or elves ever travelled, and raiding bands of disorganized barbaric orcs occasionally made raids on human or elven encampments but never anything significant. Then, upon the day of the Dark Witch's defeat at the hands of an old human soldier, her magic was unleashed upon the world in a terrible, necrotic wave of dark magic. This black cloud covered the lands, rotting flesh from bone and plants from the ground, picking apart cities and forever scarring the planet. It is said by the orcs that the city of Orc Dorado was turned from gold to stone on this day. Though many, many orcs died from this, a handful survived in their now-stone city and strived to rebuild. From this ancient few, all modern orcs of the Occom religion were descended, their teachings past on through the generations. After centuries, the orcs have regained their footing in the desert, living in it as easily as the men of the plains. Unfortunately, the other side of the coin of the orcish people survived as well, leading to many clans and raiding parties that roam every land of the modern era. In recent times, the orc capital city has fallen into a quarrelsome state. Ever since the exile of the only surviving prince of an ancient bloodline, various nobles with ideals more akin to self-interests have caused the orcs of Orc Dorado to begin losing their way and regress into a more uncivilized time, threatening to upset the work they have put into in rising above their nomadic cousins. Only time will tell what is in store for the orcs of the Dune Sea. Category:Races Category:The Dune Sea